The Riddle of Human Altruism in Social and Evolutionary Psychology

Abstract

Altruism is defined as the behaviors which causes loss or damage for the individual, but provides benefit for others. It is assumed that natural selection causes individuals to act according to their own interest and such patterns of behavior to be transferred to the future generations. However, altruistic human behavior is observed in all cultures and in a wide array. In this paper, the evolutionary approaches which are proposed to explain the origin of human altruism are systematically examined. In this framework, theories of kin selection, reciprocal altruism and costly signaling present biological explanations for the altruistic behaviors that are observed in all species, including humans. Kin selection theory defends that altruistic behavior increases the probability of passing one’s genes to next generations by providing benefit to their relatives with whom they share genes. Reciprocal altruism theory states that altruism provides benefit by future help one recevies from those he/she helped. Costly signaling theory argues that altruistic behavior increases individuals’ chance of mating by enabling them to exhibit their resources. On the other hand, the approaches that are based on group selection and cultural selection defend that human altruism is qualitatively different from that of other species and propose different evolutionary mechanisms. Group selection theory argues that the cooperation provided by altruism ensures the group’s advantage in intergroup competition. Theories based on cultural selection, in addition, state that altruistic behaviors can be transmitted as cultural norms. The main assumptions and the empirical studies that support the theories with these two approaches are presented and their strong and weak point are discussed.

Keywords

• Altruism
• Evolutionary psychology
• Natural selection